this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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Pleasant Politics

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Politics without the jerks.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 5 days ago (9 children)

Where in the ever loving fuck is corn $7/lb? A 7/11 in Alaska supplied exclusively by dog sled?

I get this sentiment here but the way these posts are filled with straight up lies makes it feel like agitprop.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Also how much are Chinese getting paid comparatively. I'd rather see what % of each sides income goes to various things. If $1 is 50% of your income and $7 is 5% of the US side's... Like I can move to a nice place in Mexico and live like Elon or Bezos does here....doesn't mean Mexico has its shit together and a higher quality of life.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Agitprop? On ~~my~~ our Lemmy?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

As a Brit its hard to tell sometimes when posts are just Americans complaining or if they really are being screwed over. We don't really grow corn like America does, for bulk cheap veg I guess we have potatoes. Spent £0.68/KG on them when I walked to Aldi the other day. Our minimum wage is £11.44/hour and rising to £12.21 in April.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

The federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour. That's equivalent to about £5.95 . For reference.

Most states have their own minimum wage, which complicates things. My home state, for example, just increased its minimum wage to $15.49 . That's about £12.72, so close to par with what yours will soon be.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

Don't forget that employers can pay disabled employees less than that $7.25 that was established in 2009.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

They miquoted the TikTok, it's prices per kg

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Sounds like a fun new game, called "Propaganda or not?"

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 days ago (7 children)

"Corn is $7/lb in America" is either propaganda or a joke from Arrested Development

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I don't care what your ideology is, or which side of the isle you're on. This is a good thing. What may come of it, is yet to be seen. I'm convinced however, this will make us stronger as a species in a death struggle against capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago

Cultural exchange is the death of fascism. Once you realize that people everywhere are just... people, the whole "othering" construct that props up nationalism falls apart.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Do I find the flood of users from TikTok to Rednote extremely funny? Yes, absolutely.

Do I think its indicative of an ideological sea change in a country that's gradually closing the door on any kind of subversive or radical sentiment? Not particularly, no.

People who just want to watch TikTok dances and re-cut Family Guy shorts aren't going to win a death struggle against the owners of the biggest treat machines. Rats fleeing a sinking ship are not agents of revolutionary change.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

It's "aisle", not "Isle".

The “aisle” refers to the space which divides the majority side from the minority on the House and Senate floor.

[–] [email protected] 78 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Sigh

I mean okay sure. I guess I'm glad they're finding out? Just wish they could have learned this shit like adults

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Proof yet again that it's only events that affect the entire herd, like this one, that provoke actual change.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 5 days ago (3 children)

The corn thing is absolute bullshit. The ambulance thing is dead on. I got my ambulance bill today from the city Fire Dept. And it is $3,900 to go 4 miles, no lights, sirens, or drugs administered in the vehicle. Just a ride.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Insane to me as a European.

I had a surgery on my nose done, to improve breathing at night. Was fully covered by my health insurance no questions asked, and according to their statement less than 2000€ incl a night in hospital. Only thing I had to pay was like 10€ or so to the hospital.

Can't imagine what that would have cost in the US of A. I'd probably still be struggling with breathing.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago (7 children)

So I can't say what your cost would have been but can tell you mine for a minor stroke.

3 days in ICU, Clot Buster drug, CT Scan, MRI Scan, ECG, Heart Ultrasound, 3 Blood Screenings, and a slew of other drugs, tests, and treatments.

Total: $236,678.49 Including the Ride to the Hospital. I didn't have insurance at the time as I was out of work and my wife was moving to a new position so I'm on the hook for 100% of that.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Holy shit. We have everyone pay ~15% of their wages to health insurance which sure sucks for some if they don't need anything paid (e.g. me, since I was always healthy). But than again that bill would not be such an issue around here.

Damn, you people need more Luigi's.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

It's not even the insurance part that is a scam, US prices are ridiculous as well.

I broke my arm in a pretty complicated way, so I needed a 3h surgery with a bunch of metal bits now screwed to my bones and iirc they kept me like 4 - 5 days in the hospital. On top of that, a bunch of imaging (MRI, CT, bunch of X-rays).

Due to some miscommunication/arguing between insurances, I got the full bill at first (in the end, regular health insurance paid 100%). So I know this whole thing costs about $10k out of pocket.

You are getting scammed.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 5 days ago (18 children)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I don't love being spied on and shit but that's a pretty basic requirement. You can probs just call people on the app.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 days ago (5 children)

How is it a basic requirement? No apps should be able to make and manage phone calls apart from your caller app. Even WhatsApp does not need this, and apps that use cellular calling can just open the phone number in the caller app, as they do when e.g. you click on a number in chrome.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago

Whatsapp does in fact need this to make calls

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

The app where you can criticize your own country but not the Chinese Communist Party.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago (11 children)

Corn is absolutely not $7/lb wtf are you even talking about.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 days ago

I'm not sure if it's more of a reaction or something that is around to stay for a bit. It's very much a Chinese app, The majority wasn't in English, but there are plenty of bilinguals. I went ahead and signed up and cruised around for a bit to see what's what.

There are a lot of welcome posts warning that it's ok to criticize the US government, but don't criticize the Chinese government. Which is interesting, but I doubt toktokers/Americans care about criticizing the Chinese government. There are some jokes about Taiwan that may bother some, and LGBTQ+ content and religion are basically no-gos. It does make you realize that there's not really a replacement for TikTok, you've got your further right spaces and your corporate friendly places, but a chunk of the free assembly Internet was just killed by the government.

It seems like it's kind of a Lady tips and tricks focused Instagram/Facebook/family-friendly from 1000 years ago type of thing, minus the advertising and thirst traps.

I think it absolutely won't fulfill the slightly subversive and free range aspects of the TikTok hole, but it seems like both the rednote and tiktok crowd are having some fun with interacting. The language barrier will probably be too great to last past the initial bubble of excitement.

From an outsider: the lack of ads/promotional material/sponsored content/internalized marketing is the most striking difference to me. It's super possible to underestimate how culturally ingrained and normalized that stuff is. The big caveat to that is: I don't speak Mandarin, so who knows what it's really like.

I'd honestly say: download and cruise around, it's pretty interesting tbh. It's a bit more wholesome, I guess because of socialism/the social focused culture (as opposed to US individualism/capitalist paradigm).

It's kind of a gas, and may be a neat opportunity to take a peak at a side of the world you don't get to see much. Who knows how long it'll last. Plus, get a chance to troll the US media/government.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Corn for $1 but dictatorship? Sign me up!

/s

Was that the idea of tucker karlson when he praised low grocery prices in moscow ?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I don't really think that's the point necessarily, just more evidence that our country is garbage generally.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

And this is why I've given up on Americans and America in general.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 days ago (1 children)

What's Rednote? Another kind of Tiktok?

[–] [email protected] 48 points 5 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (10 children)

RedNote is an app similar to Tiktok but actually owned by the Chinese Government.

What is even more crazy is that it's not really even localized and most of the app is in Mandarin.


My initial comment is completely incorrect. I apologize for spreading misinformation.

As other commenters pointed out, RedNote is a private company operating in mainland China and is not owned by the government.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 days ago (2 children)

It is owned by a private Chinese company, not the Chinese government. It’s just another corporate social media platform. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaohongshu

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 days ago (1 children)

six of one, half-dozen of the other

[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Xitter is closer to being a gov app, what with Musk buying the president and all...

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

I’m a big fan of North Korean social media myself.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

It is uplifting to see that most Americans haven’t succumbed to their government’s propaganda

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

Depending on how much of the firewall that Beijing wants to maintain i think it'll bifurcate into an a Chinese and an international app

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

From what I understand TikTok is used as the main example, but RedNote would get banned as well.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Literally anyone America can consider an adversary can be banned. I sure love my free market!

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[–] bdonvr 13 points 5 days ago

Everyone is so pleasant there xhs-doge

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